IRS Knew Lerner Emails Were Missing For Months, ‘Lied To’ Congress

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen (R) talk before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on "Examining the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Response to the Targeting Scandal" on Capitol Hill in Washington March 26, 2014. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR3IO3T

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) knew for months that Lois Lerner’s emails had been destroyed, even before the current IRS commissioner testified that his agency would produce all of them.

The IRS knew as early as February 2014 that Lerner’s emails were missing, top lawmakers on the House Committee on Ways and Means confirmed Tuesday. The IRS had this knowledge nearly three months before IRS commissioner John Koskinen agreed at a hearing to turn over all of Lerner’s emails to the committee.

Additionally, the IRS failed to deliver emails from six other IRS employees at the heart of the IRS targeting scandal including former IRS official and frequent White House visitor Nikole Flax, according to the Ways and Means Committee.

“It looks like the American people were lied to and the IRS tried to cover-up the fact it conveniently lost key documents in this investigation,” Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp and Committee member Rep. Charles Boustany said in a statement. “The White House promised full cooperation, the Commissioner promised full access to Lois Lerner emails and now the Agency claims it cannot produce those materials and they’ve known for months they couldn’t do this.”

“Even when the IRS does admit something, they are not fully honest with us,” Camp and Boustany stated. “Despite their attempt to bury the missing Lerner emails on page 15 of a 27 page letter that arrived late Friday, we now know documents from other central figures, like Nikole Flax, are missing. The fact that Ms. Flax was a frequent visitor to the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building only raises more questions. Who was she visiting at the White House and what were they talking about? Was she updating the White House on the targeting or was she getting orders? These are answers we don’t yet have, because – surprise, surprise – a few computers crashed. Plot lines in Hollywood are more believable than what we are getting from this White House and the IRS.”